Naturally Nurtured Nature

Naturally Nurtured Nature includes all-weather nature immersion time every day with unstructured nature play, free play, and child-led, inquiry-based learning. Children spend time climbing trees, playing in the woods, journeying through creeks, meadows, and a hickory/oak forest, tracking animals, listening to birds, and using their five senses to explore the native environment. The program also includes songs, stories, visual creative arts, building shelters, building and constructing art and sculpture with sticks, acorns, leaves, bark, berries, nuts, and rocks, counting with products in nature, and drawing numbers and letters in the dirt.

• Ages: 3–6 years old

Cedarsong Nature School, described as the first forest kindergarten in the U.S., began in 2008 and its forest school pedagogy is found in the theory and practice of the Reggio Emilia approach used in Naturally Nurtured Nature. The program follows a forest school and forest kindergarten model where learning takes place entirely outdoors in all seasons, with a focus on social-emotional and physical development in a 100% outdoor, natural setting, small class sizes, and a 1:5 teacher/student ratio, and it does not use a stagnant pre-written curriculum, with academics learned through playing with products in nature and integration of lessons of each season. Each day includes a daily greeting in a circle to prepare for adventure, and children practice developing self-care habits such as washing hands and managing belongings, clothes, shoes, and backpacks. The stated mission is to inspire a love of learning, a love for the earth, and compassion for all living things. The program is open for Scouts, churches, schools, family reunions, and any clubs or groups for campouts, meetings, day trips, and special activities, and Dawn is listed as the contact person at (478) 538-3216.

Last updated August 1, 2026.